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Sports governance

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York prosecutor says three former South American soccer officials charged in a corruption scandal failed to protect the interests of the sport's governing bodies. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Mace said in closing arguments at their trial Wednesday that the three took...

FILE - At left, in an Oct. 5, 2017, file photo, Marshall Faulk broadcasts from the field after an NFL football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Tampa, Fla. At center, in a Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, NFL Network's Ike Taylor is interviewed during a media availability on set at the NFL Network studios, in Culver City, California. At right in a Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, NFL Network's Heath Evans is interviewed during a media availability on set at the NFL Network studios, in Culver City, Calif. Hall of Fame player Marshall Faulk and two other NFL Network analysts have been suspended after a former employee alleged sexual misconduct in a lawsuit. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, identified the three as Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans. He says they have been "suspended from their duties at NFL Network pending an investigation into these allegations." (AP Photo/File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Hall of Fame player Marshall Faulk and two other NFL Network analysts were suspended after a woman who worked as a wardrobe stylist at the network accused them of sexual misconduct in a lawsuit. The NFL on Tuesday identified the three as Faulk, Ike Taylor and Heath Evans. They have...

Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov attends an Russian Olympic committee meeting in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Russia's Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that Russian athletes are overwhelmingly in favor of competing at the 2018 Winter Games despite a ban on the national team. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

MOSCOW (AP) — Despite Russia's ban from the upcoming Olympics, officials in the country still expect more than 200 of their athletes to compete at the Pyeongchang Games. Under International Olympic Committee sanctions announced last week, all Russians must compete under the Olympic flag as "Olympic...

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian athletes are overwhelmingly in favor of competing at the upcoming Pyeongchang Games despite a ban on the national team, the country's Olympic committee said Monday. Sofia Velikaya said the Russian Olympic Committee's athletes' commission, which she chairs, has heard from "all...

A woman waves a Russian flag outside of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in front of the Olympic Rings prior to the opening of the first day of the executive board meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the IOC headquarters, in Pully near Lausanne, on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017. Russian athletes will be allowed to compete at the upcoming Pyeongchang Olympics as neutrals despite orchestrated doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, the International Olympic Committee said Tuesday. (Jean-Christophe Bott, Keystone via AP)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — A leading Russian sports official has urged the IOC to reverse a ban on the country's flag from the Pyeongchang Olympics. Alisher Usmanov, the president of the International Fencing Federation, said the legal principle of "No guilt, no punishment" means clean Russian...

FILE - In this April 28, 2015 file photo, Kevin Jonas, of the group The Jonas Brothers, attends the AOL NewFront 2015 in New York. Jonas turned up in the courtroom for a trial of three South American soccer officials, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, to bolster testimony that one of the defendants had been bribed with tickets to a Paul McCartney concert in Argentina in 2010. Jonas didn’t have personal knowledge of the bribes but confirmed the ex-Beatle's concert had taken place as prosecutors said. The soccer officials have pleaded not guilty to bribery charges stemming from an investigation of FIFA, soccer’s governing body. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. trial of three former South American soccer officials charged in the FIFA corruption scandal took another odd twist Thursday with surprise testimony by pop star Kevin Jonas about attending a Paul McCartney show in Argentina. Prosecutors called the former member of the Jonas...

NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Goodell has signed a five-year contract extension to remain commissioner of the NFL through 2024. A memo from the NFL's compensation committee to team owners and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press confirms that Goodell and committee chairman Arthur Blank, owner of the...

NEW YORK (AP) — A turning point in the investigation of soccer's governing body came with a 6 a.m. wake-up call by the FBI to the five-star Miami hotel room of a Brazilian sports marketing executive named Jose Hawilla. A startled Hawilla, after learning he was a target of the probe, eventually...

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the annual Volunteer of Russia 2017 award ceremony at the Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017. Putin has moved an inch closer to announcing his intention to seek re-election in the next March's vote, saying he would weigh the move based on public support.(Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin won't boycott the Pyeongchang Olympics. Putin said Wednesday his government will allow Russians to compete as neutral athletes at the upcoming games in South Korea. The International Olympic Committee has banned the Russian team from games as...

Golden State Warriors guard Shaun Livingston (34) argues a call with referee Courtney Kirkland before he was called for a technical foul and was ejected, during an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, in Miami. (AP Photo/Joe Skipper)

Referees have a thankless job. Someone inevitably complains about almost every call they make. Fans scream at them. Players scream at them. Coaches scream at them. They get the overwhelming majority of calls right. The ones they get wrong become big news. That being said, they're not without flaws...